Archive for July, 2010

The scrolling shooter. Back in the mid 80′s and early 90′s they were pretty hot, but now it’s all about FPS, RTS, and GPS. Like most of the gaming industry, I’ve long since moved away from games like Life Force, Einhänder, and Gradius to boom headshots but every now and again, I’ll revisit. That time is now with the release of the first legitimate Cave title on North American consoles, Deathsmiles.

Deathsmiles was originally released for Japanese Arcades in 2007 and has undergone several different revisions. Instead of just picking one version and going with it, Cave was kind enough to separate each one and include them on the disc. This allows you to experience each change to the formula going back to the original Arcade version, up to the most recent Mega Black Label. Within each version of the game, you’ll also get to select a difficulty level on a per-stage basis (with the exception of the final two stages). While they certainly could have just picked one version and released it as an Xbox Live Arcade title, I’m glad they went the full package route.

At the start of your game, you’ll get to choose one of four different teenage “witches” (five if you’re playing the Mega Black Label version) each with a familiar and a different attack style. The differences between them mostly cosmetic and related to the story. You get a button that will fire to the right, a button that will fire to the left, and a bomb button that’ll unleash a screen clearing attack. Holding down both right and left attacks will create a circle around you and you’ll auto target specific enemies within that radius. While holding down any attack button, your movement speed will be slowed slightly, so it’s in your best interest to let off on the firing once in a while. Lastly, while you’re fighting baddies, you’ll collect items which eventually allow you to turn on a sustained power attack until your item count drains out.

Playing the game is simple in concept but extremely tough to master. You choose your stage and difficulty, then fly from left to right blowing away a ton of creatures who all unleash a plethora of projectiles at you to the point where if you’re fighting each stage’s end boss, the screen is almost filled with them. If any bullets hit the core of your body, you’ll lose one of your three life units while running into an enemy will make you lose a half unit. Dropping all three units will force you to continue which resets your score. So, while you can get to the end of the game while continuing over and over, your score will be terrible. To assist in avoiding projectiles your familiar can absorb them granting you safe passage, but unless you’re playing v1.1 or above you don’t have direct control over them. Despite being a bullet hell title Deathsmiles really has a great “pick up and play” feel to it.

There’s a story here as well although it’s ancillary for sure. If I understand it correctly (which is difficult to do), the girls have been drawn into this other-world dimension and have been given special powers to fight demons, of which you do for nine or ten levels depending on your path. You’ll eventually meet Sakura who informs you that her dad is the cause of all the problems and you’re off to defeat him. While you can ‘beat’ the game in about a half hour, the main draw is to constantly improve yourself and score, hopefully at one point being able to get through all the levels, on MBL 999, without continuing. Other features include score attack mode with full Xbox Live Leaderboards to show of just how terrible you are against the rest of the world and Xbox Live Player Matches (even though I could never get into a game).

Graphically, Deathsmiles is presented in the same aspect ratio as the arcade which by default is not widescreen. However, Cave has included the option to stretch the image to fit your display which doesn’t decrease the playability or quality of the graphics. There’s usually a lot of stuff happening on the screen but sometimes you’ll experience a bit of slowdown that seems to emulate what could happen on certain arcade hardware. Due to that fact when playing on MBL 999 there’s more going on and the slowdown doesn’t happen nearly as much, it appears to be intentional and is pretty awesome anyway. Once you quit out of a game you’ll even have the option to save an entire replay of your session to watch at a later time with full VCR controls.

Manic shooters really have a niche audience and generally I’m not one of the people who plays them but Deathsmiles is one hell of a game. The amount of modes included really helps make it a more accessible experience for players of all skill levels. If games like Ikaruga piqued your interest but turned out to be just too hard to get anywhere in or even if you loved something like Geometry Wars, Deathsmiles will certainly offer the stepping stone you’ll need, as well as the required difficulty for seasoned players.

Score: 4 out of 5

The Good
Fast, frantic, and most importantly, fun.
Adjustable difficulty makes it a very accessible bullet hell shooter.
Options, options, options!

The Bad
Menu interface is a bit clunky and unintuitive.
Not a large community online for multiplayer games.

The Ugly
Tyrannosatan

Originally posted on Evil Avatar

Despite being big on the silver screen, there really haven’t been a ton of western video games and even fewer good ones. Sure you’ve got your Call of Juarez, Gun, and Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist but in general, we’re all about space marines, military shooters, and sexy ladies playing beach volleyball. Now, Rockstar has given the past as much attention as the present or future with Red Dead Redemption, a game where you slip into the boots of frontiersman John Marston and embark on an epic journey for atonement.

You’ll be controlling Marston as he navigates the sprawling landscape on foot, horseback, stagecoach, or even motorized buggy thing. While there’s a story present, the nature of the game doesn’t exactly force you to follow any specific path though you’ll probably want to see how the entire tale unfolds… That and there’s about half of the gigantic map that won’t be available until you do. Instead, you’ll be able to head off and hunt any number of wild animals, accept bounties, gather flowers, or partake in a fairly good number of minigames. I personally spent plenty of time throwing horseshoes, but there are also fully realized and entertaining Texas Hold’em, Blackjack, Liar’s Dice and Five Finger Filet minigames. If for whatever reason you’re angry that someone just won a huge pot in Hold’em, feel free to whip out your double barrel shotgun and dispatch his cheatin’ self.

Considering the sandbox nature of the game and the obvious comparisons to previous Rockstar titles, Red Dead Redemption made it difficult for me to really play the bad guy. Not mechanically of course, if I wanted to I still could have rolled up on some prostitute, lassoed her, and pulled her behind my horse until she expired. No, what I’m talking about is a sense of morality. You’re in the old west where it’s perfectly acceptable to blow the head off of someone who just stole your horse. While that doesn’t necessarily relate to today’s justice, it really kind of removes the need to act like a complete jackhole and still get your job done. Thus, going in and role playing as Marston felt much more satisfying than being a random psychopath. This also helped with the game’s Fame and Honor system, as well as keeping the bounty on my head non-existant.

Helping out random strangers and completing story missions will earn you points towards fame, honor, or both. The more famous you become, the more people of the world will turn a blind eye to your actions and some will even think they’re better than you, challenging you to duel. You’ll be become more feared or loved on the Honor scale in response to how you handle situations and each notch on that belt will bring specific perks. Going down the wrong path will bring about a bounty on your head and people who will look to collect on that. You’ll be able to get pardon letters to help clear your name, or you can just pay off the bounty. Money isn’t exactly falling off of trees though, so you may want to put on a bandana before you decide to go on a murderous rampage. Sometimes the game doesn’t really do a great job of explaining all the different systems at play, so it may take some getting used to. I’m still not entirely sure why I win or lose while dueling folks.

John’s mission isn’t a clean one by any means and you simply can’t get through without skinning your smoke wagon, but at least there’s an honest purpose to his actions. Marston was once an outlaw running with a gang of would be Robin Hoods until life caught up with him. Deciding to settle down with a wife and child, he left his gang only to be pulled back into the fold by Edgar Ross who serves at the primary antagonist. Ross, who is a government agent, kidnaps Marston’s family and tasks him to take out his old running mates or never see his family again. The tale is well crafted being very western in style and substance, including some very cool and deliberate pacing particularly during the climax and resolution, and I personally became very invested in many of the main characters, particularly John himself.

While performing various tasks during the story, you’ll travel through one of the coolest deserts you’ll ever see in a video game. It isn’t just a bunch of sand either, Rockstar spent plenty of time throwing brush, tumbleweed, points of interest, and small towns all over the map. The attention to detail is quite impressive and it really is one of the nicest looking environments around. You’ll even roll through canyons and gang hideouts with varying terrain on your trusty steed. Animation is handled by the Euphoria engine found in games like Backbreaker and The Force Unleashed, so you’ll get some really cool reactions. Shoot someone off a horse and there’s a chance their foot will get stuck in a stirrup while their horse gallops onward; blast at a horse’s legs and watch it crumple as its rider is jettisoned with a graceful sense of pain. There’s even a full day/night and weather cycle with impressively cool thunderstorms.

Along with this impressive use of graphical and animation technology comes a very potent and gripping soundtrack. For the majority of the game it’s primarily instrumental with period and location specific tone. Additionally, the voice acting for just about everyone in the game is great and Rockstar actually took the effort to ensure if an on-screen character’s got a cigar or cigarette in their mouth, they actually sound like they do. When you finally make it to Mexico, keep your ears peeled for one of the single coolest uses of music ever in a video game.

As a complement to the single player, there is a fully realized multiplayer component available called Free Roam. While taking place within the same landscape as John Marston’s tale, this is a completely separate, somewhat persistant mode where you’ll be able to assault gang hideouts, assault each other, or play a few different version of capture the flag by going after bags of gold. Completing certain tasks will gain you experience points which will eventually get you to level 50, unlocking something for you each step of the way. You get customized titles, different (and better) horses, and a ton of different character models you can use. I found the most enjoyment in joining a posse and taking down each of the game’s gang hideout locations, but was disappointed that the minigames weren’t available to play and the somewhat empty world felt a bit too soundstage instead of a real bustling arena.

It’s certainly strange coming into the summer months and having multiple contenders for game of the year, but Red Dead Redemption is squarely in the running. A huge world with a mountain of content, beautiful landscapes, tremendous soundtrack, and wonderfully crafted story, this is likely the best western game you’ll ever play.

Score: 5 out of 5

The Good
One of the best looking games around. Who thought the desert could be so captivating?
Great western story that hits all the right notes and paces itself in old cinema fashion.
Multiplayer isn’t some throwaway mode; it’s pretty awesome.
Clint Eastwood’s mexican poncho.

The Bad
Quirks of the sandbox formula still exist.
Some gameplay systems aren’t really explained well.

The Ugly
The weapon selection radial menu sucks.

Writer’s Notes
Single Player Playthrough: 19h53m
Percentage at Completion: 75.1%
Favorite weapon:: Bolt-Action Rifle
Best NPCs: Marshal Leigh Johnson, Landon Ricketts, Bonnie MacFarlane

Originally posted on Evil Avatar.